Mahler’s EighthClosing concertand farewell to Edward Gardner

The final concert at the 2024 Bergen International Festival will be conductor Edward Gardner’s farewell concert.

Edward Gardner has been Chief Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra since 2015 and will take over as Music Director of the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet in August 2024. His last concert in the role of Chief Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra will be during the Bergen International Festival, with the monumental Mahler's 8th Symphony in E-flat major on the programme.

Mahler's 8th is one of the greatest orchestral and choral works in the classical repertoire and is rarely performed. The work has been called the ‘Symphony of a Thousand’, and requires eight soloists and several choirs, in addition to the orchestra.

‘Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. There are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving.’ the composer said of his eighth symphony. When the work was premiered in 1910, with Mahler conducting, it broke all the rules and boundaries of what symphonies could and should be. 

Introductions

Tuesday 4 June

18:30-19:00 in Spissen (foyer): Introduction with conductor Edward Gardner and Bernt Bauge, Bergen Philharmonic CEO. Doors to Grieghallen open 18:15.

Wednesday 5 June

17:00-17:30 in Spissen (foyer): Introduction with conductor Edward Gardner and Festival director Lars Petter Hagen. Doors to Grieghallen open 16:45

Language

​Performed in German and Latin, titled in Norwegian.

Contributors

• ​Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

• Bergen Philharmonic Youth Orchestra

• Edward Gardner conductor

• Håkon Matti Skrede choir master

• Emma Bell* soprano 1 (Magna Peccatrix)

• Marita Sølberg soprano 2 (Una Poenitentium)

• Mari Eriksmoen soprano 3 (Mater Gloriosa)

• Stefanie Irányi** alt 1 (Mulier Samaritana)

• Jess Dandy alt 2 (Maria Aegyptiaca)

• David Butt Philip tenor (Doctor Marianus)

• Yngve Søberg baritone (Pater Ecstaticus)

• John Relyea bass (Pater Profundus)

• Georgia Boy Choir (David R. White artistic director, conductor)

• Edvard Grieg Boys' Choir

• Edvard Grieg Girls' Choir 

• Edvard Grieg Choir

• The Norwegian National Opera Chorus

• Collegium Musicum Choir

• Bergen Philharmonic Choir

*Emma Bell replaces Elisabeth Teige as soprano 1 (Magna Peccatrix). Updated 2 June.

*Stefanie Irányi replaces Wiebke Lehmkuhl as alt 1 (Mulier Samaritana). Updated 3 June.

A Co-Production between

​Bergen International Festival and Musikkselskapet Harmonien

Music by

• ​Mahler

Works

Gustav Mahler (1860−1911)
Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major
Part 1: Veni, creator spiritus
Part 2: End scene from Goethe’s Faust

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